Optical rectification for a new shot to shot feedback system for laser-driven plasma wakefield accelerators

Abstract

Plasma-based particle accelerators driven by either lasers or particle beams are an important new technology in order to reduce the large size of conventional accelerators and to minimize the construction costs. Using laser driven plasma wakefield accelerators, the synchronization between electron bunch and the ultrashort laser is crucial to obtain a stable acceleration. In order to minimize the electron bunch arrival-time jitter, the development of a new shot to shot feedback system with a time resolution of less than 1 fs is planned. As a first step, stable Terahertz pulses (THz pulses) should be performed by optical rectification of high energy femtosecond laser pulses in a nonlinear crystal. It is planed that the generated THz pulses will energy modulate the electron bunches shot to shot before the plasma to achieve the time resolution of 1fs. The selection of the nonlinear material for optical reptification is a critical aspect for the development of laser driven THz sources. In this contribution we systematically investigate the influence of the optical properties, and in particular adsorption coefficient of lithium niobate crystal as well as the theoretical description of the THz generation on the conversion efficiency of the generation of short THz pulses.